This invention is related to toilets. In particular, it is a device for flushing a toilet electrically that may be used instead of the typical hand-operated flushing lever and that is particularly adapted to be added to an existing tank toilet having a ball-cock or other flush valve that is operated by a chain or the like.
Most existing residential toilets are tank toilets. That is, they include a tank of water that is emptied into a toilet bowl at a rate that is initially faster than the rate at which water can run out of the bowl. This raises the level of the water in the toilet bowl and causes a relatively rapid evacuation of the contents of the bowl when the level is high enough to break a siphon in the outlet from the bowl. This process requires a water tank that holds an appropriate amount of water in a location higher than the toilet bowl, means for filling the toilet bowl to a desired level, and means for emptying the tank into the bowl. It is useful to add means for preventing overflow of the tank, typically an overflow standpipe that is connected to the inside of the rim of the toilet to discharge water from under the rim of the bowl. The tank is connected to the toilet bowl by a conduit that typically has a relatively large diameter, of the order of inches. This lets the water tank empty into the bowl in a time of the order of seconds. The conduit is sealed in the tank by a ball cock or flap valve.
Normal operation of the flush cycle is as follows. With the tank filled with water to the desired level, a user works a lever that causes the ball cock or flap valve to be lifted by a chain or the like, opening the conduit from the tank to the bowl. Water rushes through the conduit to the bowl, lowering the level in the tank and raising the level in the bowl. A float-controlled valve or other valve that is sensitive to the level of water in the tank is opened by the lowered level, and water begins to flow into the tank as soon as the level of water in the tank starts to drop. A tube is typically connected from the float valve or other level-control valve to the standpipe to cause water to flow in the standpipe while the level-control valve is open. The water continues to flow into the bowl until it reaches a predetermined low level, at which point the flush valve closes. The main flushing action stops at this point as the tank begins to refill. While this happens, water continues to flow in the tube to the standpipe, maintaining the flow into the rim of the bowl to continue the rinsing action in the bowl and also provide a continuing input of water to the bowl while the tank is filling. Water flows into the tank until it reaches the predetermined level, at which point the float valve or other level-control valve shuts off the flow of water. The toilet is ready to repeat the cycle.
It is difficult to operate the typical tank toilet with a lever that is placed anywhere except on the tank. This location restricts bathroom designers who want to control the flushing of a toilet from locations other than the tank, and it also presents a problem to handicapped people who are confined to wheelchairs, especially if they are paraplegics. The location of the handle on the toilet also makes it difficult to equip a tank toilet to be flushed by a foot pedal. Mechanical linkages have been developed which enable tank toilets to be flushed by foot pedals, but these linkages tend to be complicated, difficult to clean, and easy to damage.
The desire to have a device that will flush a toilet by the use of electricity is not new. U.S. Pat. No. 342,495, entitled "Apparatus Governed by Electricity for Flushing Water Closets," was issued on May 25, 1886. It teaches a solenoid operated by a remote switch and connected to a lever or chain that lifts a ball cock to flush a toilet. The '495 patent is adapted to the tanks of the time that were located high in the air. It teaches no means for flushing the toilet manually, and is thus not readily adapted to be retrofitted to an existing toilet that is flushed manually.
Any device that is developed to make it easier for people, and especially handicapped people, to flush toilets or that makes it easier to flush tank toilets from remote locations will be most useful if it is adapted for installation in existing tank toilets without extensive modification of the existing flushing mechanisms. For many existing toilets that use lever-operated ball cock valves and are refilled by a valve controlled by a float at the end of a lever, it may be necessary to create room in the flush tank by substituting a flush valve that uses an integral level-control valve of the type that is sold as a replacement unit. The float-lever tank toilets have a relatively small amount of room in the tank to install the apparatus of the present invention, and most commercially available lever-operated float valves need most of the room in the top of the flush tank to provide enough moment on a lever arm to close the valve when the tank is full. In addition, any such device that is added to an existing toilet must not interfere with normal manual operation of the toilet, either as a matter of choice by a user or in case of electrical failure.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a remotely controlled flusher for a tank toilet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an electrically-operated flushing mechanism for a tank toilet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remotely operable flushing unit that is electrically operated for a tank toilet.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remotely operable flushing unit that can be installed in an existing tank toilet having a ball cock, flap valve, or other flush valve operated by a chain.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a remotely operable flushing unit for a tank toilet that operates in conjunction with an existing manually-operated flushing device in the toilet.
Other objects will become apparent in the course of a detailed description of the invention.